General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Stock Price Down 3% After Analyst Downgrade

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) fell 3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $68.00 to $65.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. General Mills traded as low as $58.19 and last traded at $58.62. 1,508,332 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 4,995,444 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.44.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on GIS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.53.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Down 2.8 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $60.08 and its 200-day moving average is $65.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $32.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. General Mills’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.17%.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates through four segments: North America Retail; International; Pet; and North America Foodservice. It offers grain, ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.